Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg is a political discussion programme which includes in- depth interviews with leading politicians.  In this case, Ms Sturgeon was the third party leader to appear on the programme, following the Prime Minister and Sir Keir Starmer in previous editions.  The BBC Editorial Guidelines make it clear one of the roles of the BBC is to hold those in positions of power and authority to account, and this will inevitably involve asking political leaders to explain their policies and ideas.  An experienced political journalist, such as Ms Kuenssberg, can therefore legitimately adopt a challenging, evidence-based, approach when conducting such interviews.  In the ECU’s view this was a case in point, and the approach to all the subjects under discussion, including the issue of Gender Recognition highlighted by the complainant was appropriate and in keeping with the BBC’s standards of impartiality.
Not Upheld